Government should do more to save bees from extinction, says poll

Government should do more to save bees from extinction, says poll

The Government is not doing enough to protect bees, a new poll has found.

Bees contribute €53m to the economy a year through pollination, according to recent research by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.

A poll of 1,000 respondents by iReach Insights found that 73pc are aware that bees are threatened with extinction but 88pc of respondents believe more could be done to save them.

The results said that more than a third (38pc) of respondents had personally taken steps to protect them. This includes planting more flowers that attract pollinators, educating others about the importance of bees to the environment and using less harmful weed killers and pesticides.

But 72pc of respondents believe the Government should provide more education on the importance of bees, while 67pc of respondents would like to see fewer and less harmful chemicals used in the environment.

More than 63pc of respondents said they would like to see more flowers planted in parks.

Meanwhile, the hot summer has been a sweet one for reland’s beekeepers.

The warm temperatures have led to a bumper crop of honey this autumn, according to beekeeper Brian O’Toole of Leinster Honey.

Mr O’Toole said the long, hot days meant honeybees had more “flying time” in which to collect pollen and nectar.

Although they can fly up to 5km to collect nectar, the prolonged period of warm weather meant they could collect more pollen closer to home.

“This summer has been exceptional. It was great news on the honeybee front and we’re looking at a bumper crop from honeybees this year.”